With under 13 minutes remaining in the game, Shrigley blocked a shot from Air Force’s Max Yon and Shepard snared the rebound. He shot down the floor, with Polee keeping pace.

“As soon as I saw DP on the break and that it was 2-on-1 situation, I knew I was going to get it to him,” Shepard said. “He’s one of the highest jumping players I’ve ever seen, so I knew I could throw it up anywhere and he would be able to go get it.”

Polee slammed home the alley oop to give SDSU a double digit lead for the first time in the game and the sold out crowd at Viejas Arena went crazy.

“I feel like that’s what sparked our play in the second half,” Polee said. “To hear the fans go crazy, my teammates go crazy, then for the other team to call a time out, it was a real momentum changer and that is what I like to do when I come into the game.”

From that point forth, even though the Falcons (10-14, 4-9) eventually managed to close the gap to three points, the Aztecs played with a different swagger.

Polee finished with 13 points, marking the second game in a row that he’s scored in double figures, and the first time he’s managed that since the first two games of his career at St. John’s in 2010.

Just call him the super sub, the Aztecs’ secret weapon.

“Dwayne Polee is high energy,” SDSU coach Steve Fisher said. “He’s got length and athleticism and everybody knows it’s like the ball is a magnet when he’s out there. It finds him. He gets his hands on a lot of the ball defensively too.

“He’s going to bring you energy and he’s going to bring you activity. He’ll change the dynamics of the game when he comes in.”

Aztecs' defense back

After a troublesome defensive performance in their defeat to Wyoming, the Aztecs got back on track against the Falcons.

“Defensively, I thought we did an exceptionally good job of guarding in the halfcourt,” Fisher said. “Air Force is a difficult team to guard with their back cuts and their movement but for the most part we did a really good job on that.”

Even when the Aztecs’ offense was misfiring in the first half, they managed to at least keep the Falcons’ scoring to a minimum.

SDSU forced the Falcons to burn the shot clock, using its full court press to keep its opponent from moving up the floor.

Air Force shot 37.5 percent from the field. SDSU is now 14-0 this season when it holds opponents to under 40 percent shooting.

Johnson absent

SDSU forward James Johnson missed the game because he was in Oklahoma attending his grandfather’s funeral. Fisher said he will rejoin the team Monday.